Anduril, founded in 2017 by Orange County entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, will be adding artificial intelligence capabilities to the drone system known as Altius, with the acquisition of Area-I.
No financial details were disclosed.
Founded in 2009 and based in Marietta, about 20 miles from Atlanta, Area-I will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anduril and retain its separate brand name.
The acquisition comes as four-year-old Anduril seeks to further challenge such traditional defense giants as Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
Anduril has already made inroads into military contracts. Along with border surveillance, Anduril makes unmanned drones and related aerial systems, and is said to be working on cruise missile defense technologies.
The closely watched defense and border protection startup, which has seen its valuation rocket to nearly $2 billion in its first years of operation, said in March it had received a subcontract award from Palantir Technologies Inc. for the work related to a new high-tech targeting system the U.S. Army is building.
Border Work
Several other Anduril initiatives, including border monitoring technologies it has developed and installed along the U.S.-Mexico border, started with small contracts but quickly ramped up in size after they were proven to be effective. The company’s been reported to have won or be in the running for contracts that could amount to several hundred million dollars’ worth of work since its inception.
Anduril views Area-I as a key addition to its product lineup.
“By adding Altius to our suite of products including our Lattice software platform, we are increasing Anduril’s value to our defense customers,” Chief Executive Brian Schimpf said in announcing the purchase at the start of the month.
Luckey himself tweeted on April 1 that “the market for instantly launching autonomous drones from just about any moving platform” is massive.
“Together we will modernize U.S and allied defense capabilities with transformative technology,” Luckey said of the Area-I purchase.
Black Hawk Helicopter
The Altius 600 tube-stored drone can be launched from a Black Hawk military helicopter, for example.
As Forbes magazine said in a headline shortly after the purchase was announced: “Anduril is About to Give an AI Brain Transplant to Area-I’s Drones.”
“The Anduril acquisition is likely to take the already successful Altius to another level by opening up a new range of missions,” technology consultant and author David Hambling wrote in the Forbes article. “The drone is launched from a tube, carried by an aircraft, helicopter, ground vehicle or other platform, with wings that flip out after launch.”
Payloads “can include cameras or other sensors, signals intelligence, counter-drone jammers or a kinetic (explosive) warhead of up to 7 pounds,” according to Forbes, which said Altius 600 has performed well in U.S. Army development.
Anduril had 330 workers in OC, with a total of 400 companywide as of last month. The company was advertising for more than 90 positions on its website as of April 11, with most of them Irvine. It’ll be moving to a much larger location in Costa Mesa starting early next year.
Anduril is the fastest-growing area defense firm, and ranked No. 15 on the Business Journal’s list of top aerospace and defense companies in OC by local employee count last year.
